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There are two reasons the smartphone could cease to be the dominant way people access the Internet and connect to each other.

The financial incentive is there. The smartphone market is nearing saturation. Already, companies like Apple that have ridden to incredible highs on the market's growth will need to turn to new products to renew their revenue acceleration.

It's the long term trend. Computers have been getting smaller and closer to our eyeballs since their beginning. First they took up whole rooms. Then they moved to desks. Then they were in our laps. Now, they're in our palms. Next they'll be on our faces, or maybe even on our eyes. Eventually they'll be in our brains.

None of this is to say that companies will stop making and selling smartphones in the next 20 years.

It's just that soon, smartphones will turn into what laptops are today – a fading platform still used by mainstream. After that, they'll be replaced.

Already, Apple, Google, and Microsoft are all working on post-smartphone gadgets – computerized glasses and watches.

Because Google is very public about the projects it's working on, the best known gadget in this class is Google's computerized glasses, called Google Glass.

Earlier this week, Google filed with the FCC to get approval to sell Google Glass. App developers will get their hands on an early version of this gadget later this year.